Congratulations, Mrs. Yama!

Driving force behind integration, Yamaguchi wins 2007 CTE Educator

By Caitlin Kuroda, Trojan Times

As a pioneer of Career & Technical Education at Mililani High School, Language Arts Teacher Monica Yamaguchi was recognized for her efforts by being chosen as the Outstanding Secondary Career & Technical Educator for 2007.
Yamaguchi has been an advocate for Career and Technical Education since the early nineties, when she was part a team called Tech Prep, which eventually evolved into School to Work, and finally to a genuine integration team. "I've brought the academic area, one of the major four core areas, to the forefront of Career and Tech Ed," Yamaguchi explained. "And so I guess I've been kind of like the missionary for that in our school."
For the past six years, Yamaguchi, with her partner, Industrial Arts Teacher Todd Yoshizawa, has been teaching in both the Language Arts and Industrial Arts departments through the integration program that she developed.
"I'm actually very embarrassed to have won it because I'm not a full-fledged industrial arts teacher," Yamaguchi commented. "But I really do feel honored and appreciative to have the support of my industrial art teachers who have really taught me so much along the way. So this award, really to me, is not about me. It's about how this department really pulls together and nurtures each of its teachers, especially the new ones."
Yamaguchi attended an award ceremony on May 19 at the Kapiolani Community College where she and other contributors to Career and Technical Education were honored.